The Son of Mars
by R. Vennington
Summary: 1&2 2&4 3&4. Not long after beginning their missions on Earth, the Gundam Pilots are ordered to share a safe house for the first time and develop relationships that will anchor them through the war.


Plot: Not long after beginning their missions on Earth, the Gundam Pilots are ordered to share a safe house for the first time where they will develop friendships and possibly relationships that bring in a new aspect of life to them as they continue their fight against Oz.

Pairings:

2+4 which might progress into 2x4.

3+4 which might progress into 3x4.

1+2 which might progress into 1x2.

(there will links to the alternate chapters that include any graphic scenes so that this fic is not required to be labeled "M" and to allow you, the reader, options.)

Warning: Duo POV, drama, angst, possible gore… they are at war. (but read the above… gore can equal graphic scenes as well.)

Any further warnings & notes will appear in future chapters.

Please enjoy!

* * *

By R. Vennt

**The Son of Mars**

Chapter 1: Janus

Not much got to me these days. With the war going on and people dying right and left, you begin to build up a tolerance to disturbing images, to people—to life. I was focused on one thing: killing. Sure, Doctor G made sure I was directed in my killings, but that's all it was. Killing. Revenge. I wasn't the only one with my own motive either. That pilot, Zero-Five, Chang Wufei, was in the war to issue his own reign of justice. Every second he was engaged on topics concerning the war, it was like asking a judge his view of the system.

Then, there's Trowa, who is in the same boat as me. Revenge. Both of us had our childhood stolen from us by the war. Both of us became orphans, forced to join the ranks of men in battle, all before we ever entered an arcade.

But then, there was Quatre Winner. Even though he wasn't royalty, he was richer than that Peacecraft girl, making him the wealthiest heir in the universe. He was a true colonialist, fighting Oz for no personal reason except to gain the colonies freedom. Along with Wufei, he had one of the most closest to peaceful and normal childhoods. It was because of that that I really liked the guy; he was definitely a people person.

And finally, there was the one and only Zero-One—Heero Yuy. Heero was the soldier that all soldiers wanted to be. The perfect soldier was the nickname he had earned. He was precise, diligent, efficient, and a cold-blood killing machine. If Doctor J said shoot, he would shoot—and kill. For as much as I know this guy didn't even have a childhood. Doctor G told me that Heero was already undergoing training as an assassin before J took him in.

It was hard for me to look away from Heero. He was stunning and deadly all wrapped up perfectly together. Sometimes he was too inhuman. I mean, setting your leg back into place then wrapping it together with some tape and a wrench, then walking on it is just… Well, you know, _not right!_

xx.xx

The mission I had just finished was a solo one, and I'm glad, I don't really like how the doctors are playing matchmaker by sending us on missions in pairs. The other guys were good, but it really hampered my style, and the mood. I liked killing the enemy all on my own, thank you very much.

After completing the mission, the order said to report to a safe house, which was nothing new. I actually welcomed it after being in the woods for two weeks straight doing observation on the base just waiting to confirm the target's arrival. Hot water sounded like a blessing at this point.

However, it was this line that through me off: "There you will meet and fraternize with the other four pilots for the duration of your next missions." Was G serious? All five of us together? The doctors didn't see fit for us to meet before sending us to earth, and now they wanted us to be flat mates?

xx.xx

I landed my baby Deathscythe in the woods, camouflaged him, set up sensors, and then began the three mile hike to the safe house.

I heard soft footsteps near-by that halted just as mine did. We must have heard each other.

"Is somebody there?" The voice I recognized as Quatre feigning to be a nervous hiker came into the air.

"Hakuna matata!" I hollered back with a smile. Though I didn't enjoy fighting along side Quatre as much as I might with, say, Heero, I did enjoy his company. One day after a joint mission together we decided to rest in a scenic area, which he said reminded him of a scene in a classic animated movie called, _The Lion King_It was after some talking after that, that "hakuna matata" became our own silly saying between comrades.

"Zero-Two!" He replied back cheerfully and I heard his footsteps jogging towards my general direction.

"Hey!" I said as he came into view and we began walking together. "How's it going?"

"I just got back from Persia, you?"

"Whacked off a base in Turkey. So what's with this frat thing? Think they're serious?"

"I think so, I spoke briefly with Zero-Three on my way here and he said that he had confirmed his arrival to the same safe house as well."

"Oh, do you talk to him often?"

"Yes, we've become good friends." He said with a small smile and blush that betrayed his thoughts.

"That's cool. He's pretty hot."

"Duo!"

"Haha! Don't worry man, he's all yours." I gave him a knowing nudge with my elbow.

"But, Duo that's— He's—"

"Don't you go saying he's a _guy_. C'mon Quat, it'd be cool to have someone to talk openly with." Now thinking about it, Quatre probably never had that opportunity growing up in such a traditional family.

"So you're…?"

"As far from straight as a piece of spaghetti. Now, c'mon, let's go see if mister talk, dark, and quiet is there already." I nodded up to the safe house that was now in sight.

xx.xx

The house looked small—_very _small. It was about the size of one large fifteen by fifteen room from the outside with a thick vine that almost resembled a bush, covering the roofing to camouflage it.

As we came within range we shouted out "O.M. 02" and "O.M. 04" in case any of the others were some where ready to shoot us.

"Zero-five here, come around the side!" Wufei's voice shouted from what sounded like to be the other side of the house.

As we rounded the corner he was on the front porch, without his duffle bag, leaving us to assume that he had already settled down. He greeted us with a swift nod before entering the house, leaving us to follow. Once inside we found one large room with a small kitchen off to the side and two doors next to it.

The room had two sofas that flanked a coffee table, a satellite TV, and a few lights. The kitchens counters were bare, but I hoped the refrigerator and cabinets weren't.

"Zero-Three—Trowa—is down stairs. This door here," he led us to the door directly next to the kitchen, "leads to downstairs. The other door" he pointed to the second door, "is a restroom."

We descended the stairs to discover yet another small room with one sofa, another coffee table, a small TV, and a communications center. There was a hallway that branched off of this room where we saw Trowa exiting the fourth doorway—nude, except for the towel wrapped around his waist.

"Hey, Trowa," I greeted. "I got dibs on the shower after you. There better be hot water left, man." He gave me a small smile and nod.

"Hello, Quatre," he said. Looking directly at the blond who looked like he was trying desperately not to stare at the taller pilot's bare chest.

"Hello," Quatre said looking up at Trowa's face, then blushing. "Is that your room?"

"Yes, there are only three, would you like to share?" I smirked to myself, of course he would.

"Oh, yes, that would be lovely. Thank you." Quatre walked forward to Trowa who showed him into the room.

"So, Wufei, which one is yours?" I asked.

"The third one door. The first is the bathroom, the second is a sparring and exercise room, the fourth is the other bedroom. That one will be your's and Yuy's, the last two rooms are the ones with two beds." He walked up to his door. "Yuy reported that he would arrive in two days."

"Alright, thanks Chang," he nodded and I made my way down to the room I'd be sharing with the perfect soldier.

Before I arrived, I was actually hoping to room with Quatre or Trowa if there weren't enough rooms. Wufei was alright, but not my type of guy. And Heero was just… I don't know. I've never even really spent any real time with the guy. Most of the time we've spoken was via vidcoms and those were just regarding missions.

I guess Quatre and I would both be rooming with a mister tall, dark, and handsome. But, at least his knew how to communicate outside of the field.

At the end of the hallway, I opened the door and entered the room. I was glad to see that the two beds were on opposite sides of the room. Bunk beds were never a good thing when dealing with highly trained soldiers.

The two beds were perpendicular to the opposite wall with a small bedside table between them, and to my right were two desks that sat side-by-side. And that was the room.

I accepted it and went over to the bed on the right-hand side, assuming that Heero would want the one closest to the door. I actually would have preferred it as well, but not so much that it would be worth creating an argument with my new roommate. After all, who knows how long we would be living together. Missions could be as short as two days to as long as more than a month.

I took out my laptop and set it up on the nightstand and plugged it in so that it could start charging. I took out a pair of pajama bottoms, a towel, and other necessary showering equipment and laid them out on my bed before putting my duffle bag underneath the bed.

I had more clothes and supplies, but I would get them tomorrow. For now, all I was interested in was getting a nice hot shower and some food.

I went outside, back down the hall, and in passing Quatre and Trowa's room heard their voices talking through their slightly ajar door.

"-nice of you to send them." I heard Quatre say quietly. It sounded as if he was shy.

"Thank you, I wanted you to know-" Trowa began, but I didn't pause or flatter my strides. It would have interrupted them if they knew I was listening. Though, now I really wanted to know what Trowa had sent to Quatre, and what he had wanted Quatre to know.

However, it was more important to know that Trowa wasn't in the shower yet, and that meant I had time to get some food.

The door to Wufei's room was open, but I didn't see him inside. The training room door was open as well, and when I glanced in side I could see him doing some stretches.

"Hey, there's food upstairs, right?" I asked him, while taking the chance to look around the room. It was much larger than our bedrooms and consisted of a large padded mat, some benches up against a wall, and exercise equipment to the side.

"Yes, are you going up?"

"Yeah." The shirt Wufei was wearing was a tight whiter undershirt and allowed me to see the fine outlines of his muscles. "Want anything?"

"Water, if you don't mind. Would you care to spare with me, Maxwell?"

"Maybe tomorrow man, I'm wiped out right now. But, I gotta warn you, I fight dirty." Dirty meaning street, meaning, I'll do whatever I need to do without fancy forms to get the job done.

He nodded. "Tomorrow then." I nodded in return then turned and left.

I've never actually spared with anyone of the other pilots before, but from what I was informed by G, Wufei was trained with very traditional styles before entering his training to become a pilot. It would be interesting—to see how our two methods cross in a match.

The kitchen was well-stocked with a variety of food. I chose a few nutrient bars, and a supplementary drink to be my meal for the night before heading back downstairs to give Wufei his water.

xx.xx

The following day, I woke up a bit later than usual. I guess my body wanted to take full advantage of having an actual bed to sleep on.

I changed clothes, took my duffle bag, and headed down the hallway. All the doors were open, but the others were nowhere to be seen. I went into a small living room and noticed that there was a flashing message on the screen of one of the monitors set up in the communications center.

I went over and read the message.

"02,

The doctors sent a message detailing the location of an underground hanger next to the house.

We are moving our gundams to this location.

-03"

I closed the window and opened up another flashing message sent by the doctors.

This message gave directions to entering the hanger, and I was glad to see that it was in fact, not far from where I had landed the previous day. I was then surprised to see a layout of the house which showed that the hanger was less than ten feet from the house and that there were several hidden passage ways throughout it. This made me believe that this house had actually been created with us in mind before we were even sent to Earth.

There were hidden doorways exactly opposite of the doorways to our rooms in the halls, and several emergency escape routes created by hollowing out the walls in certain locations throughout all the rooms in the house. A pathway would then lead us to the hanger.

After seeing this, I decided to go back down the hallway and test out the hidden door opposite Heero's and my room. I followed the directions, knocking at precise time increments at the exact location detailed in the envelopes and was rewarded by a doorway size portion of the wall moving backwards, and then opening to reveal a short hallway.

From were I was standing I could see that the hallway led directly into the hanger. I could see its vast size and the long distance to the opposite side of the hanger. I heard a large noise and felt the ground beneath my feet tremor as a large gust of hot hair blew down the hallway. Felt like the movement of a gundam to me.

I walked into the hanger to see Wufei's gundam coming to rest in one of docking locations in the hanger. More waves of tremors and hot air continued to come from farther down the hall were I could see both Heavy Arms and Sand Rock coming around a corner.

xx.xx

"Duo, Good morning!" Quatre called out as he descended from his gundam after docking it. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, remind me to thank the inventor of the bed, later."

He smiled. "Are you going to move your Gundam now?"

"Yeah, the docs really went all out on this place, huh?" I looked around; it looked a lot like the one I kept my Gundam in during training. It was really well equipped.

"Yes, we can even do major repairs."

"Awesome, well I'm gonna go bring my baby down here too. There's a way up to ground level from here, right?"

"Oh! Yes, yes. Here," he handed me a small PDA out of his pocket. "this has the layout of the hanger, take that door there," he pointed to a nearby door, "that one should lead you in the direction of your Gundam. "

I looked over the layout on the PDA to find my bearings, "Alright, thanks man, be back in a jiffy."

"Pardon?"

I grinned back and started walking away. "Pre-colony slang, it's nifty, huh?"

He frowned again. "I'm afraid I still don't—" he then smiled realizing I had used another word on purpose.

"Don't worry, _dude_. He's just trying to _rip you. G...G. _Duo." Trowa said, sounding like a parent trying to use 'hip' language with their kids.

"Haha! Trowa, my man that was horrible!"

xx.xx.

I couldn't complain about the house anymore. Sure, it wasn't that big, but having an underground hanger right across the hallway was definitely a plus and worth overlooking all the other small drawbacks.

With the bedrooms being underground as well, there was more than enough room for them to build to additional rooms. But then again, the message did say that we were to fraternize during our stay here. I guess it was just their way of making sure we couldn't avoid it.

After relocating my baby Deathsycthe, I joined the others for a light lunch and some TV. We watched the news for a while, remarking on Oz movements and developments, then switched over to satellite to watch the local colony news from each of our respective satellites. Luckily, there wasn't much Oz movement there because they were seemingly busy being attacked by unknown "terrorists" on earth.

I couldn't help but smirk. Everyone knew those "terrorists" were the Gundams for the most part, or allies of ours.

"Maxwell, would you like to execute the match now?" I looked over a Wufei. Enough time had gone by for the sandwiches to be properly digested.

"Sure, buddy." I stood and began to walk towards the stairs with him.

"Match?" Trowa asked, turning away from the advertisement for a circus group touring the L-3 cluster.

"Just a friendly spar."

"May we watch?"

"Sure Quat, maybe you and Tro could have a go too."

We all headed downstairs, though I noticed Trowa paying special attention to the show dates for the circus before he turned off the TV I motioned the Quatre and mouthed _"circus."_

He took the cue.

"Trowa, do you enjoy the circus?" Quatre asked Trowa.

"Yes, very much. In fact, I used to perform in that particular group as my cover while they were on Earth." He smiled lightly, "They are very nice people."

That begun their small talk. I was happy for Quatre, he seemed delighted to learn more about the usually quieter pilot. And as for Trowa, he seemed quite content as well, with a small smile on his lips when he spoke.

They sat on the bench in the exercise room as we warmed up.

"Ready, Chang?"

"If you are," he replied. Quatre and Trowa quieted.

Wufei and I faced each other, and then slowly grew closer, taking stances. Then shifted. I was waiting for him to make the first move, and apparently he was waiting for me to make mine.

I shifted my feet. "C'mon, don't back down now, _Wulong_." I dropped the tension in my stance.

For a split second the miss use of his name caused a frown to appear on his face, which was just as quickly replaced by slight shock as I attacked him.

We were even at first, I landed a punch here and there and he did the same, but when he upped his level and delivered a well placed kick to the back of my knee, sending me off balance, another one to my ribs, I had changed my tactics.

Wufei fell fast—and hard—as I caught his foot, pulling it towards me as I twisted and landed a powerful blow to his kidney, at the same time bring us both down to the floor, where I made sure the weight of the fall was on him, as I landed with my elbow in his midsection, forcing him to loose his breath.

He fought back quickly though, landing a punch on my cheekbone which instantly ignited with pain. I'm sure it was split and bleeding. I blocked again, this time, his leg with mine, and took advantage of when he pulled me on top of him by once again grabbing one of his legs—as he tried to kick me off of him—and twisted it, forcing him to roll over to avoid damage.

He used the motion to help him stand, but just as he was on both feet, I had already bounced back and kneed him in the stomach, grabbing him by the collar, and preparing—

It was for a split second, but I sensed it—we all did—another presence had joined us.

My knife was out of my belt and flying across the room intent on killing before I knew who I was targeting.

I was surprised though, when it landed in the wall opposite the doorway. I missed.

"Zero-one," Heero's cool voice spoke from somewhere in the hall.

A well-toned hand appeared from the left side of the doorway and retrieved my knife. He appeared in the doorway, covered in dirt and what looked like ash.

"Heero, you're early! How did you not set off the sensors?" Quatre asked what we all wanted to know.

"I know the frequency code." He analyzed the knife in his hand. "You're quick." He tossed it back to me.

"Obviously not quick enough," I muttered to myself as I returned the blade to its hiding spot.

"Hn." Heero said. "Duo, did you take the room at the end?"

"Yeah, the bed farthest from the door. Do you mind?" I really wanted to know if he had a problem sharing a room with me.

"No, it's fine." He turned to walk down the hallway.

"Hey, Wufei, nice bout and all, but it's pretty much spoiled now, huh?" Wufei nodded.

"May we continue another time?" He asked.

"Sure, if you don't mind getting whipped twice in a row," I grinned back and headed out after Heero.

Heero was just going into the doorway to our room as I came down the hall, but then I noticed the doorway across from ours leading to the hangers was also opened.

"So, you already docked your Gundam?" I asked, entering the room and sitting on my bed. He was unpacking a few items from his duffle bag and his laptop was already charging next to mine.

"Yes." His laptop was already set out on one of the desks, running and charging. I wanted to comment that I didn't even notice his landing, but for some reason I didn't want to show any possible lapses of skill to him. Though, it was probably because of the match with Wufei… I wasn't sure if he'd view that as acceptable or not. G sure wouldn't.

"Did the docs send you a map or something? They didn't even tell us about it until after we got here." I sat on my bed, took off my sweaty shirt, and began stretching my muscles.

"No. I was here a few days ago." He sat at the desk and began disassembling two of his guns. "I brought in the supplies."

"Oh, thanks man! I was surprised, I thought if anything there would be all rations, but you got real food!"

"I knew that Winner and you would prefer them."

"Huh? How so?" I never remember telling him about my preferred foods.

"Barton."

"Trowa? How'd he know?" Oh, wait. "From Quatre, huh?"

"Yes."

"So, you and Trowa are buddies?"

"We converse, yes."

"Oh… So… Would you rather room with Trowa?"

"No." Huh? I mean, they were already buddies, right? I mean, then I could room with Quatre and that would be cool. But… then Quatre wouldn't be with Trowa and that wouldn't be cool...

"Why not?"

"The goal of our rooming situation is for us to become acquainted with each other."

"But Wufei is all by himself." I pointed out.

"But he is willing to interact."

"And I'm not?"

"No, you are more than capable of doing so, just as Winner is. That is why you are both roomed with Barton and myself."

Hold up! News flash! "You mean it was planned?"

"Barton and I were instructed to specifically share a room with either Winner or yourself."

"Oh… So, would you rather room with Quatre?"

"No." He looked up from his guns. "Would you rather room with Barton?"

"Naw, man, Q can have him." I grinned back. "I mean, how lucky am I to get to room with _the_ perfect soldier!"

"Hn."

I stood up and sat down on the desk next to him, looking down at the thorough cleaning job he was doing on his guns. Was it me or did his finger just slip? Must be me.

"So, roomie, what'cha going to do for the rest of the night? Is that your write up?" He nodded. I leaned in trying to get a closer look at the screen on his laptop. The way I had to twist my body gave him a good look of my now vulnerable rib line, but well-toned back and sides.

I couldn't be blamed, for flaunting myself in front of him. I would've done it to any killing machine as hot as he was. Well, ok, so the only other hot killing machine I know is Deathsycthe and I don't think he really appreciates my efforts, no matter how hard I try.

I could feel him looking at me, but the only way I could tell what that look was, was if I looked back. But since I was pretending so efficiently to be looking at his mission write up, I couldn't exactly do that.

"Duo?"

"Yeah?" I turned my head back to look at him, keeping the same position.

"Would you—Would you spar with me tomorrow?" A stutter from Zero-One?

"Sure buddy, so long as you don't go setting my bones outta place." I grinned back.

"Understood." I turned to look back but caught a glimpse of his eyes running down my exposed side.

Maybe the great Heero Yuy wasn't as straight as he appeared to be.

Or, maybe he was just appreciating my muscles and thinking about the match tomorrow.

xx.xx.

I really couldn't tell why we let it happen, but the next day when Quatre and I were upstairs in the living room enjoying simply delicious sandwiches that he had made, we got into a child's wrestling match.

_I_ wanted to watch the _Queer as Folk_, but no, _he_ wanted to watch _Desperate Housewives_. I don't even know why, he even wasn't a housewife. I mean, at least both of us were gay. If I would've thought about it more at the time I probably would've figured that he wouldn't feel comfortable watching the openly gay show in public. But at the moment I didn't care. _I wanted to see Brian Kenney!_

We started fighting over the remote, and then we fell over the armrest of the sofa, me landing on top of him and between his legs. The little bugger had a death grip on the remote.

I started tickling him, and naturally, he started laughing.

"Duo! Stop—Stop! Haha," he wiggled but couldn't get away.

"Gimme the remote and I'll stop!"

"But Ehwa! Ev—Eva! Stop! stop!" I could see tears in his eyes from laughing but I had him pinned, using one hand to keep his hands above his head and the other to tickle him in every possible place.

"Screw Eva! I want Brian! Gimme! The! Remote!"

"OKAY! OKAY" The remote fell from his hands and we laid there panting. I stilled then, finally realizing the position we were in. He was left vulnerable underneath me, and our groins were touching. We both realized that we had been slightly excited by our little brawl. He blushed, I blushed, but I didn't release his hands. He didn't pull at them either. The hand that had once been tickling him was now resting on his side where his shirt had raised up. It was soft. I felt myself get hot.

"Duo…"

"Yeah, Quat?" I breathed, looking into his eyes; he wasn't frightened, if anything, it looked as if he was anticipating something. I dipped my head down closer, and then his eyes closed… I closed my eyes…

"What are you two doing!" Wufei's voice pierced the calm and we both scrambled to get up just to find him, Trowa and Heero all staring at us from the top of the stairs.

I looked sideways at Quatre.

He was ready to bolt.

Well… fuck.

* * *

Janus: The god of beginnings. 


End file.
